Reflections on the CCDS EL-PFDD

By Celeste Graham, ACD Director of Education

I had always thought of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a very high-level governmental agency that oversees all things safety and effectiveness, related to food, beverages, supplements, and medications… so high-level and inaccessible that they really didn’t have any interactions with the general public. Continue reading

Embracing the puzzle of rare diseases: reflections on non-profit leadership and service

Special Message to CCDS Community from Former ACD Board Chair Laura Trutoiu

When Rohan was diagnosed with Creatine Transporter Deficiency, or CTD, in June of 2017, my world was shattered. Continue reading

ACD Fellowship Projects Make Progress in 2022

The Association for Creatine Deficiencies (ACD) is playing an active role in funding research to find a cure and treatment for Cerebral Creatine Deficiency Syndromes (CCDS), and a cornerstone of this effort is the ACD Fellowship program. Continue reading

“Our Experience of CTD” – Kayla

We’ve shared that Creatine Transporter Deficiency (CTD) can cause seizures, speech, intellectual, and motor delays, ADHD, and autism in people, but it can vary greatly from person to person. So what does CTD look like for our son, Crosby? Continue reading

“Awareness” – Lacy

I find myself thinking a lot about awareness. It has been a buzzword in our lives for the past five years since we found out that Jacob has Creatine Transporter Deficiency. It is a diagnosis we never thought we would get mainly because we had never even heard of it. Continue reading

The Power of Science and Connections – Thoughts on the 2022 Symposium

When I volunteered for the PaReNts project back in April, I really wanted to be able to attend the ACD Conference. Continue reading

Walk for Strength 2022

2022 Walk for Strength Guidance from a successful team captain- how to set up a team and recruit participants.

Creatine Decoded: ACD-Funded CTD Drug Repurposing Fellowships Make Progress in Year One

Patient Samples from Coriell Biobank in Studies Seeking to Understand CTD Mutations & Explore Existing FDA-Approved Drugs as Potential Treatments

#CreatineDecoded is a quarterly educational essay series that sheds light on research relevant for Cerebral Creatine Deficiency Syndromes (CCDS). The essays and interviews feature community contributors, often parents, who with the help of the ACD, explore in their own words the CCDS science you want to know more about.

Have a topic in mind? Send suggestions to Laura Trutoiu, ACD Director of Research auract@creatineinfo.org. Continue reading

“A Diagnosis is a Chance at Hope” – Carlie

By way of background, I am new to the CCDS community. Our 8-year-old son was diagnosed with CTD on 1 April 2021. Yes, April Fools Day, almost appropriate given the various false starts we had on the diagnosis path.

Up until that day in April, plenty of letters had been thrown our way – GDD, SPD, ID, ASD. But for me nothing really explained what was happening to our little man. It is easy to look back with hindsight and see the times we were dismissed by doctors, despite the red flags. We were close several times to maybe heading down the right path, but a doctor didn’t want to see us as a patient (our urine sample was elevated but not out of the realm of normal) or I was told we should just wait and see how he develops (only to also be told the early years are the most important for intervention, sigh). Continue reading